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 Studies continue to show that the best child development tools available to parents are offering encouragement and direct guidance to the child. Case in point: A 1995 study conducted at Baylor University discovered that kids who were seldom spoken to or touched, and who weren’t allowed to experiment with toys, had 20 to 30 percent smaller brains than normal children who were touched and allowed to play.
This jives with the story you may know of Emperor Frederick II who, in the 13th century, tried to discover children’s “natural language” that they would speak if they were to be raised without exposure to any language. Frederick along with many others felt that children would naturally learn “the language of God.” Instead, they never learned any language, and all of them died in childhood.
When parents interact with their children, it not only will help boost a child’s IQ and develop language skills, but it also helps him with the development of imagination skills.
Another study validates this idea. Professor Wendy Haight from the University of Illinois discovered that children learned much when parents help them through pretending games and showed them skills such as manners and greetings.
Taken together, we can conclude from all of these studies that when an adult is interacting with a child, it positively impacts his or her ability to learn, to imagine, to innovate, and to make and maintain positive social contacts. Furthermore, this holds true regardless of which ethnicity, economic level or language grouping that the child comes from. There is some thought that perhaps this at least partially explains the success of home schools in creating smart kids.
As a bonus, not only does such interaction boost a child’s IQ, but it also helps fulfil his or her emotional needs. Conversely, other studies reveal that kids who have been neglected and abused find it harder to learn and suffer more emotionally.
The moral: Don’t just stick your child in a room or corner somewhere and tell him or her to stay out of your hair. Rather, engage them and interact with them if you want to grow healthy, smart kids.
 Will secondary school children in England get their first choice of schools in the 2010-11 school year, and is it really crucial that they should? Opinion varies, but the national average is slightly down in some areas, including the London boroughs.
London typically has a lower percentage of students who get a place in their first choice of schools; this is due in part to the popularity of some schools that results in an overload of subscriptions.
In London and Birmingham at least two thirds of the pupils will be able to get their top preference in schools, but the percentage is much higher in some rural areas as many as 95% get their first choice.
According to Graham Carter, chairman of the Admissions Group for London, students got one of their choices in 90% of cases, and first choice was offered to about two-thirds of them every year for the past six years.
Some representatives of the educational system are wondering if all the flurry and anxiety on the part of many parents is really valid. The ATL teacher’s union general secretary, Mary Bousted, indicated that since most students do get to go to school where they (or their parents) prefer, there is no real need to worry about it. In addition, educational standards are being raised across the country.
In 1977, parents had a 50/50 chance of their child being ‘allocated’ to a sub-standard school, but there has been great improvement in the secondary schools as far as educational standards are concerned, and school ministers intend to continue and expand that improvement.
 Girls prefer more challenging reading material than boys. This is one conclusion drawn from a recent survey of children and young adults between five and sixteen years of age.
The survey was headed by Professor Keith Topping of Dundee University, and included 100,000 subjects throughout the U.K.
According to Professor Topping, it is not a matter of quantity, since boys seem to read as many books as girls do; rather it is the literacy level of the books preferred. An example of this tendency is the preference of boys in the 13-to16 age group for Peter Lancett’s books in The Dark Man series, in this case specifically The Dark Never Hides. Lancett’s Dark Man novels are simply and carefully written with focus on common words, making them accessible even to very poor readers.
In contrast, girls in the same age group preferred Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, which is “vampire romance” aimed at a much more sophisticated audience, with more complicated plots and structure. The difference could have something to do with subject matter, i.e. simple good guy-bad guy versus more complex permutations, but this is not the only consideration.
Topping feels that better monitoring of what young people are reading is one way to approach the problem. The report suggests that many of the subjects who are capable of reading at a level at least two years above their age (designated as ‘high achievers’) are choosing books at a lower level because it’s easier. Therefore they are not improving reading skills at a time in their development when doing so can be crucial.
The financial squeeze may be affecting the parents of young adults ages 18 to 30 more than others, as figures suggest that 28% of the parents of the group known as ‘Babygloomers’ have paid their children’s debts or at least given money to help them out.
The survey which was conducted by The Children’s Mutual included 1500 parents and showed that most parents have not anticipated such costs placing their own finances in potential jeopardy in order to help out their kids.
In fact, around 66% of the parents stated that they already have reduced their day to day living costs in order to help out an adult child or expect to adjust them in the future. Adjustments include shopping for food economically, reducing heat and light usage within the home, and selling their cars.
Chief executive of The Children’s Mutual, David White, stated that the figures show that parenting is expensive and that 18 does not mean financial independence anymore, with16% of parents expecting their children to stay dependent on them past their thirties.
White continued to comment that most people they questioned offered one basic word of advice for those with young children currently, save money now. Over half of the group interviewed stated that if they were aware of how much it cost to have an adult child they would have tucked more funds away than they did.
He cautioned that the figures are a warning to parents that 18 is no longer the age at which a child becomes dependent and that parents need to plan for the future for a much longer period of time now in order to survive.
 Psychologists have discovered that the best way to get adolescents to work out was by highlighting the emotional benefits of exercise, versus emphasizing the health benefits. This may be partially due to the fact that they are drawn to the ‘fun’ side of staying physically active.
Head of the study University of Leeds professor Reema Sirriyeh stated that there is supporting evidence that shows people who think that physical activity is fun are much more likely to participate in exercise and sport.
Sirriyeh and her team forwarded text messages to 128 teenagers on a daily basis for a week with one set emphasizing the benefits of exercise on your health and the other emphasizing the fact that physical activity can help cheer you up.
The teenagers who received the upbeat text messages exercised for two hours more than the other group per week. Each teenager was between the age of 16 and 19 and attended schools from throughout West Yorkshire.
In the beginning of this year a study was released that warned Britons children across the country were becoming less fit at a much more drastic rate than the international average, even though the Government has invested millions of pounds in an effort to combat the problem.
A new report published by the Daycare Trust found that nursery placement costs for children that are over the age of two have increased by double the rate of inflation over the course of 2009, and that on average childcare costs half the gross earnings of most parents who work full time in England.
The findings of the national childcare charity also show that even though the recession has decreased the earning power of many people, nursery fees have increased by about five percent with most parents spending around £4,500 every year for childcare. The situation is even worse in London where parents on average spend about £11,000 per year or about £212 per week for 25 hours of nursery use.
Other areas in England also saw large increases in the cost of childcare with Yorkshire and the East Midlands reporting an increase of about 24% and Humber showing an increase of about 13%.
 According to the charity, the results show how parents are struggling as they face pay cuts, retention, and hour reduction at the same time they face rising childcare costs.
Chief executive of the Daycare Trust, Alison Garnham, stated that the figures are shocking to see and that the government should extend the promise of free nursery care to all children in the country that are over the age of two.
Currently, only children over three qualify for government funded childcare for 12.5 hours although in the future this will be increased to 15 hours per week.
 A recent study at the University of Edinburgh has found a possible link between fragile X syndrome and the occurrence of autism.
The syndrome results from the interference of a mutant gene in the X chromosome that retards the building of synapses in the brain.
Fragile X syndrome is more common in males, since they have only one X chromosome.
Researchers studied specially bred mice by recording electrical signals in their brains, and concluded that some connections in the cortex were late in developing. This delay may in turn cause further problems with the ‘wiring’ of brain synapses, leading to the condition known as autism.
In addition to other symptoms of autism such as behavioural problems and lowered mental capabilities, the lack of optimum performance by the X chromosome appears to cause “tactile defensiveness”. This term is used to describe the tendency to avoid making physical or visual contact; people with autism generally don’t like to be hugged.
The study also discovered that the changes in normal development of brain synapses begin much sooner than previously thought, in fact in early or middle stages of the development of a foetus in the womb. Therefore the intervention or possible treatment of autism could begin earlier and perhaps with greater effectiveness.
Though this is only one piece of the whole puzzle, fragile X syndrome has been established as one of the leading causes of autism, and new understanding of its causes and effects may lead to more effective diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
 Brain games are all the rage these days. You have video games such as “Brain Age” for the Nintendo DS gaming system, similar games for other consoles. There are even “brain gyms” popping up everywhere, with the intention of raising intelligence through mental exercises.
Surprise: If new research is to be believed, aerobic exercise actually does more to increase children’s intelligence than brain games and even supposed “brain foods” like fish.
The latest study was conducted by Dr. John Ratey, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist. Dr. Ratey determined that higher physical activity levels tend to trigger a release of what Ratey calls “metabolic clean-up crews.” The result: brain clogging waste, which causes sluggish thinking, is zapped away by proteins and enzymes.
Always interested in child development issues, the inspiration for Ratey’s research came as he noticed that PE teachers in a Chicago school had been aggressively promoting physical fitness, and interestingly, these same students achieved higher academic performance as well. In this particular school, the central focus for students was exercise, which took place throughout the day. Academic courses were slotted between these exercise periods.
Dr. Ratey began researching the subject, and his studies consistently show a link between higher children’s intelligence and higher activity levels.
Want to get your own kids moving for the sake of their minds? Here are some recommendations:
1. Encourage your children to spend time playing outside instead of staying on the Computer or video games all the time.
2. If your kids insist on playing video games excessively, get them a Nintendo Wii, and consider investing in exercise “games” such as Wii Fit.
3. Make your kids bicycle or walk to school.
4. Plan regular family outings in which you as a group bicycle, walk to the park, play tag, etc.
5. Encourage your child to get a paper route. This will motivate him or her to learn about financial responsibility at the same time that it’s getting them active. And they’ll be excited to have their own money coming in.
 When four year old Bella Flint said that she felt ill a GP stated that a child was simply looking for attention after her baby sister arrived, however, her mother thought there was more to it than that, luckily for Bella.
Her mother, Carly Hornbuckle, said that her mother’s intuition drove her to head online to diagnose her symptoms because she had a feeling that the illness was more than just a childhood bug or the result of sibling rivalry.
Hornbuckle actions ended up saving her life because when she looked up Bella’s symptoms that included vomiting in the morning, weight loss, and listlessness she discovered that they were all signs of a brain tumour.
Once she discovered the diagnosis, she ran to another GP who agreed to test Bella, at which point it was discovered there was a tumour about the size of a golf ball in her brain.
It took an eight hour operation and Bella is now receiving chemotherapy for the next year, but the prognosis is positive.
Hornbuckle stated that she knew something was wrong because a mother knows her child.
Bella’s parents became concerned in France while on holiday when the child started vomiting after waking up. They noticed she was losing weight but the GP said that the child seemed to well overall for something serious to be wrong with her.
The tumour was finally found at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and diagnosed as medulloblastoma, which only affects about 80 children across the nation.
 After splitting America in half following an edgy awards show, Ricky Gervais the comedian once again has stirred up controversy following a statement that parents who are irresponsible should be sterilized.
Gervais himself is childless and said in an interview that there are too many poor people who are struggling and too many unwanted children. Thus, in his opinion a woman who is eating chips with a fag in hand should just be sterilized on the spot.
Despite his harsh statements, Gervais, states that even though he grew up on a Reading council estate his views are the result of parenting style and not a result of his class.
According to Gervais, he described a parent that was irresponsible not a ‘poor’ parent and that he would never advocate sterilizing someone because they were poor.
Among the many things that can constitute irresponsible parenting according to Gervais, who coincidently is an atheist, is sending a child to a religious school because they are brainwashed.
He also stated in the interview that his girlfriend Jane Fallon had talked about children in the past but decided against it because of the hassle. He went on to say they just did not want to devote such as large section of their life to children.
Earlier in this month Gervais drew criticism as the Golden Globes host when he made fun of megastars including Mel Gibson and Sir Paul McCartney while drink
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Studies continue to show that the best child development tools available to parents are offering encouragement and direct guidance to the child. Case in point: A 1995 study conducted at Baylor University discovered that kids who were seldom spoken to or touched, and who weren’t allowed to experiment with toys, had 20 to 30 percent smaller brains than normal children who were touched and allowed to play.
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